Yabba Dabba Doo

What’s your favorite cartoon?

You would think it would be easy to answer the daily prompt about my favorite cartoon. I sat down to write saying, well, it was hands down Bugs Bunny. “Duh!” I thought. Turns out there was another choice that knocked on my brain and said, “Yabba Dabba Doo — I’m here too.”

The Flintstones showed up. How could I forget my modern stone-aged family?

I’ve always thought the animated series were written more for adult humor than kids. After all, the Flintstones were modeled after The Honeymooners—so closely, in fact, that Jackie Gleason contemplated suing the creators. And honestly? I get it. The jokes, the timing, the innuendos… half of it soared right over our childhood heads while our parents chuckled in the background.

But every week I’d plop down and watch the antics that Fred and his sidekick Barney—or Wilma and her bestie Betty—would tumble into. Prehistoric tales served up in modern situations. It cracked me up every time Wilma “vacuumed” using what basically amounted to a wooly mammoth on a stick. And don’t get me started on the celebrity cameos. There was something so perfectly corny about seeing a familiar face written into the show and handed a rock-themed name. Ed Sullivan? Ed Sullystone. And my absolute favorite: Ann-Margret shimmering onto the screen as Ann Margrock. Pure genius.

Maybe that’s why the Flintstones nudged their way into this prompt today. They weren’t just a cartoon; they were a tiny slice of comfort I didn’t realize I’d stashed away. A reminder of simpler afternoons, of laughing at jokes I only half understood, and of a world where dinosaurs doubled as household appliances and nobody questioned it.

So yes, Bugs Bunny may have been my first instinct. But the Flintstones? They’re the ones who quietly rolled their stone wheel into my heart and parked it there. Yabba Dabba Doo indeed.

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Author: KikiFikar

Kiki Fikar is a native New Yorker who is passionate about taking the day to day life we all experience and sharing it in her tales from Suburbia. She will often be found at the gym, writing snippets each day for future story lines, listening to her two children create their lives, and building the perfect beachfront home and writing retreat in her mind.

48 thoughts on “Yabba Dabba Doo”

  1. Hi Kiki 🌷
    You have perfectly captured the charm of those modern stone-aged tales – a hilarious blend of corny jokes (like the Ed Sullystone cameo!) and that deep, comforting slice of simpler times.😇
    Thanks for sharing that wonderful “Yabba Dabba Doo” memory.❤️

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  2. The Flintstones. Oh my goodness, that was the best. Loved that show. The funny thing. I never got the Honeymooners similarities. Duh! I can’t believe I missed that. Fred always got himself in some kind of predicament and even though it was a cliche, it never got old! 🤣🤣😎😎😎

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  6. You’re right about the adult humor, Karen. Flintstones was the Simpsons before the Simpsons. Loved that show. Other cartoons that leaned towards adults were “Rocky and Bullwinkle” “Underdog” and “Snaggletooth.” Thanks for sharing!

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  7. my gosh, weren’t those afternoons so simple? the world seemed so much bigger yet had more emotional cushioning. or maybe it’s just the cartoons were so good it made us forget??? nevertheless, i will miss those cartoons dearly for the time they symbolized. Mike

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  11. I agree Mike! Definitely a happier and simpler time. I felt safer in that world for sure! Although I had similar safety feelings with the NBC tv lineups in the late 90s. 😁

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  20. btw did you ever watch King Of Queens? there was a point in time where i was staying in Hewlett, Rego Park and L.I. City and everytime I see a King Of Queens reference it brings me back to that time 🙂

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  21. So well written, Kiki! I was too young when I watched The Flintstones too, so didn’t catch any innuendo. I watched it primarily to see how Stone age technology worked, and then I would watch The Jetsons and see how the future would be. It was so much fun comparing both of these cartoons. We had a fun childhood with amazing cartoons 😍

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  22. Oh wow. That a fantastic comment! Both shows depicting every day life from different periods in time. Love it!!! Thank you!

    You know it’s funny each day that I climb into New York traffic I think “the Jetsons had flying cars – where’s mine?”.

    Have the best day! 😁

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  23. I loved The Flintstones too 😂 It’s funny, I never truly realized the similarities to The Honeymooners, but after reading this post, I can see it all so clearly. They’re definitely one of my favorites, along with Woody Woodpecker, Tom & Jerry, and “There’s no need to fear, Underdog is here,” to name a few.

    But being a guy’s kind of guy, I also have to go with Speed Racer 🏎️🏁… well duh 😆.

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  25. I’m a fan of both. Waking up on Saturday mornings to watch cartoons was an awesome experience. Sadly, our kids can’t enjoy that since they now have cartoons 24/7. I graduated to Mazinger Z and Voltron when I was a little older, but Bugs Bunny and the Flintstones are still in my top 5.

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  33. Loved the Flintstones! At the time, I didn’t know about the Honeymooners and was wondering why our parents sat down and watched it with us and actually laughed. Que? Thanks for a day brightener 😎😂

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  42. Dear Kiki
    I am extremely thankful to you for commenting, liking my posts for which I didn’t acknowledged of late, I acknowledge the like, comment on the post ‘Can’t’. Your appreciation is quite valuable. 🌺❤️🙏

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